“Synchronic”: Another sci-fi mind twister too many people missed out on
It’s a little late for a new review on this film. It came out in 2019 but it didn’t get a lot of attention. Now it’s coming to Netflix, on April 16 Synchronic will be available to stream so I decided it’s the perfect time to get the word out. Starring Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan (who, not gonna lie, in the wake of the “Stackie” friendship, feels like a Walmart stand-in version of Sebastian Stan. It doesn’t help that he has almost nothing to do but act depressingly angsty the whole time), and was directed by the team behind the films The Endless, and Spring, Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson.
It’s got that same dreamlike, what the heck is happening, quality to it, only unlike its predecessor’s, something about Synchronic feels effortless. As if Moorhead and Benson made it quickly from a half-baked idea that was leftover from all their other projects, though it’s hypnotic enough to keep your interest and imprint on your memory.
Synchronic is a mix of big and small. It takes a simple story and then throws it into a mind-twisting concept that focuses primarily on time and how the past, present, and future are simply divided by perception. In a way, it reminds me of Pokemon Go only because, like that annoyingly popular game, Synchronic highlights the things we cannot see. In Pokemon Go, the player needed the use of an app to look for Pokemon and would only be able to see them if they looked through their phone’s screen. During the hype of this game, I often imagined that a Pokemon was standing right beside me but I was unable to see it. I would look behind me and start talking to a Charizard I imagined was standing there.
Although not nearly as silly, Synchronic is oddly similar.
Steve (Mackie) and Dennis (Dornan) are lifelong best friends who work together as late-night paramedics. They each have their own personal troubles which are that they crave the other’s social life. Dennis has a wife, children, and lives in domesticity while Steve is a detached ladies’ man, but both feel hollow inside, and trust me, it shows. But that’s just the boring backdrop used for plot motivation, the real story involves the series of strange deaths they’ve been encountering while on the job. Each death appears to be drug-related but no one has any real explanation for how they happen. Their only clue is a tiny packet labeled Synchronic at each crime scene.
(Spoilers ahead)
As it turns out, Synchronic is a “designer” drug created especially for people to experience time travel. Its purpose is to allow the user to leave their own time for a total of seven minutes. Taking the drug will transport them to a new moment in time, usually the past, and even allow them to interact with whatever is there. However, like everything, there is a catch. For one, the past is rarely kind and there is no way to control where you go when you take the drug. It’s like walking into Jigsaw’s playhouse with a blindfold. You might walk into a pit of chainsaws or you might just walk into a door and live to see another few minutes.
Another catch is the way the drug works. The drug affects the pineal gland but when taken by children, whose pineal glands have yet to fully develop, there is a chance that they might not come back from their trip, which is exactly what happens to Dennis’s daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides). After realizing he has cancer and has yet to fully live a life worth living for, Steve decides he’ll do whatever it takes to save his best friend’s daughter.
Big and small, some half-baked with a bit of genius, it’s a perfectly congenital film with just enough mystery to keep your eyes on the screen and just enough horror to make you wish Moorhead and Benson would go more Lovecraftian every once and a while. The human relationships and the emotional impact they attempt to make are its weak points only because Mackie and Dornan aren’t very believable as BFFs, but it does its best and is effective to a certain degree. Mackie holds the entire thing on his shoulders, everyone else is just white noise behind him.
The true genius of Synchronic is the drug itself and its take on time travel. Everyone has a vice they use to escape reality and in the case of Synchronic, all the characters want to escape themselves. The drug presents them with this exact option. It’s a representative of all drugs in their rawest, most philosophical form.
Synchronic has one of the best opening scenes of the films released in 2019, a masterpiece of arthouse sci-fi horror. Very ominous and grotesque, beautiful and smartly constructed, like a violin made from human bones playing a tune in a haunted house once owned by a blood-drinking demon cult. If anything elevated my opinion on this film, it was that opening sequence.
(4 / 5)
All photos are property of XYZ Films and Patriot Pictures
Leonardo Dicaprio’s films rarely disappoint. It was interesting to see him flex different acting muscles in this psychological thriller Shutter Island alongside Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams. When I say that I was not expecting such a turn in the story, I mean that my jaw was pretty much on the floor the entire time. Without any further ado, let’s dive into its mastery, shall we?
A cliché setup done right
We have been here before a million times. A character stumbles into a scene to solve a mystery. Everyone is acting just the right amount of suspicion to make you wonder. Dicaprio’s Edward ‘Teddy’ travels to an extremely remote island where a woman goes missing from a psychiatric institution. He’s experiencing migraines and flashbacks to his murdered wife while receiving little to no help from the hospital staff.
Teddy soon suspects that the hospital is experimenting on patients which fuels his theories on what happened to the missing woman. Things take even more of a turn when his partner also disappears. Unsurprisingly, everyone insists Teddy came to the island alone. Feeling like he’s losing his mind, our protagonist finds out that this is exactly the case. He is a patient in the hospital and the entire investigation is an attempt to get him to understand the truth.
While the whole ‘it was all in your head’ trope has a bad rep for the fans of any genre, this film uses it masterfully. Watching it for the first time not knowing what to expect is obviously a shock and then watching it again, looking at all the clues that were the which you missed – that’s a treat on its own. After all, there’s nothing inherently wrong with using cliches if they are done the right way.
Things that go bump in our minds
A huge part of this movie’s storyline is Andrew’s inability to process the truth. The roots for it stretch far beyond the plot twist. Andrew is unable to acknowledge that his wife is mentally ill and believes that moving them to the countryside will fix everything. After she murders their children, he is further pushed into the world of delusion, convincing himself to be a hero because he couldn’t save his own family.
It’s interesting to note that in his delusion, Andrew is the one who set fire to their house. Is this a little sliver of his mind whispering the truth to him? Is it his subconscious villainizing himself out of contempt, searching for answers that are never going to come? Andrew’s psychiatrist pointed out that his moment of clarity has happened before, only to be undone quite quickly. Perhaps it was easier for Andrew to shut it off rather than live with the knowledge that he could’ve done something to prevent a terrible tragedy.
Overall thoughts
Shutter Island is a movie that provides both the entertainment value you would expect from a suspense thriller and a deeper layer of thought. Coated with a perfect atmosphere and amazing acting, it’s a piece that will definitely hold the test of time.
(4.5 / 5)
We’ve reached episode four of Wheel of Time, which means we’re halfway through the season. While it doesn’t seem like much has happened so far, this is the episode where things start heating up.
The Story
We begin this episode with a flashback. Ishamael is raising something dark and twisted. As we watch, it takes the shape of a woman.
More on that in a bit.
Meanwhile, Nynaeve is healing from her time in the arches. She is quiet and withdrawn. She’s also awkward and uncomfortable around Egwene now that she’s initiated and Egwene is not. Her new friendship with Elayne isn’t helping.
But the three girls come together when Liandrin tells Nynaeve that Perrin has been captured by the Seanchan.
However, Perrin is no longer in the clutches of the Seanchan. He was rescued by Elyas and a pack of beautiful wolves. Beautiful and deadly AF by the way. If you have any fear of dogs, this episode might not help that.
Elyas explains to Perrin that he is a Wolf Brother. This means that he can communicate with the wolves, and eventually will gain some of their abilities. While Perrin and Elyas don’t exactly get off on the right foot, he does find a fast friendship with one specific wolf. After a time, he introduces himself by showing Perrin an image of himself jumping up and down. From this, Perrin assumes his name is Hopper.
Finally, we return to Rand. He and Selene have been off in the mountains. They haven’t done much more than each other so far.
And that’s exactly what it appears they’re about to do when Moiraine bursts into the cottage and cuts Selene’s throat.
Rand is surprised and furious until Moiraine explains that the woman he knows as Selene is the Dark Friend Lanfear. With this shocking revelation, the two run off into the night.
What worked
It should be a surprise to no one that I loved the wolves in this episode. Hopper himself was worth an extra Cthulhu. But this is not just because dogs are cute. It’s also because the dog playing Hopper just does a great job.
On a more serious note, I loved how Nynaeve responded upon coming back to the real world. She isn’t okay.
And it’s a good thing that she isn’t. Too often in fiction we don’t see the fallout of emotional damage. Hell, we don’t usually see realistic fallout from physical damage.
But she is hurt by what she experienced. And you can tell. That’s realistic character building, and we don’t see that enough.
I also really appreciate the special effects in this episode. The first time we see Lanfear, she’s eerie. She’s frightening. Part of this is thanks to Natasha O’Keeffe, who does a great job. But the effects are what really sells this.
What didn’t work
If Wheel of Time has any fault, it’s that there is far too much sitting about and talking about things. In this case, there’s a lot of standing about and talking about things. Some of this was necessary, and some of it could have been done better. Honestly, there just has to be a better way to convey that characters are struggling.
This was most apparent with Rand and Selene/Lanfear. Honestly, anytime the two of them were on screen it was a great time for me to catch up on Instagram.
This might come as a surprise to anyone who hasn’t read the books, but Rand is supposed to be the main character. And here we are, four episodes into an eight-episode season, and so far all he’s done is mess about with his emo girlfriend!
That being said, the story is starting to pick up. With four episodes left, I can’t wait to see how far we go.
(3 / 5)
Movies n TV
Elevator Game, a Film Review
Elevator Game (2023) is directed by Rebekah McKendry and is the first feature-length production of Fearworks.
Elevator Game (2023) is directed by Rebekah McKendry and is the first feature-length production of Fearworks. It adapts the supernatural myth and creepypasta of the same name while providing an original plot. This unrated Shudder exclusive stars Gino Anania, Samantha Halas, and Verity Marks. In full disclosure, I had the opportunity to interview Gino Anania and Stefan Brunner about the film.
Ryan seeks to find answers to his sister’s mysterious disappearance. To do this, he infiltrates a myth-busting web series that seems to have some ties to her final confirmed moments. Desperate to force a confrontation, he encourages them to play the elevator game. Unfortunately, there seems to be more truth to the myth than expected.
What I Like about Elevator Game & as an Adaptation
I am lucky to have additional insight into the development hell this movie overcame due to COVID. It’s commendable that the film manages to make it of that, even if it requires a lengthy delay of the film.
Usually, I provide a separate section for adaptation quality. However, the source material remains the ritual, which Elevator Game performs accurately. While the myth inspires many creepypastas, Elevator Game doesn’t directly take or adapt any of these works from what I’ve seen. Instead, it makes its own film based on the legend.
As the Fifth Floor Woman, Samantha Halas creates an eerie and disturbing character. While I won’t go so far as to say terrifying, she certainly makes an impression. The revelation that the stunts and performance are all her, as an actual contortionist, I give her more credit.
Gino Anania, given a more complex role than most of his cast members, really does bring a strong performance that creates either friction or synergy with his cast members. I suppose I wanted more of these interactions as some cut sooner than appreciated.
Another amusing element is that the entire motivation for the plot to follow is a forced advertisement from an investor. Something about the chaos being a product of appeasing some investors feels uncomfortably real.
The alternate reality remains surprisingly effective. To be clear, it’s not impressively realistic but stylistic. It genuinely seems like an alternate world with a skewered impression.
Tired Tropes or Trigger Warning
I feel weird mentioning this, but endangering a sister’s life to push the brother’s story forward seems a common trend beyond one form of media.
No discredit to the actors, but the romance feels rushed and unnecessary. Without going into too much detail, to avoid spoilers, there is synergy between the actors but little chemistry in the plot.
What I Dislike or Considerations
Elevator Game remains set in providing a B-movie experience. Its tight budget leaves little room to surprise the viewer visually. While I am surprised at what it accomplishes, it’s far from overwhelming. This film also remains the first production of Fearworks, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. I’m interested in the future, but Elevator Game leaves much to grow from.
Rebekah McKendry may have a directorial style that influences dialogue, but the line delivery evokes an overexpression that’s common in Lovecraftian films. I say this not as a direct negative, but it remains a required taste best known before viewing. As this isn’t Lovecraftian, I fear it removes some of the reality and tension of those haunting elements.
Many of the characters feel underdeveloped, making me wonder if cutting these roles might lead to more invested characters. While the performances hit their marks, a tighter cast might give each role more to work toward. As this is a tight cast already, it seems an odd issue to rectify.
Final Thoughts
Elevator Game provides an interesting B-movie experience for those who know the legend. For those expecting something different, this film may not work for you. This film overcame a lot to exist but doesn’t break the mold. While I am excited to see Fearworks pursue further ventures toward its ambitious mission statement, I find Elevator Game falling short of its goal. 
(2 / 5)
